Tints & Shades
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Scale from white (50) through Dark Sea Green (500) to black (900), interpolated in Lab color space.
Color Values
- HEX
- #8FBC8F
- RGB
- rgb(143, 188, 143)
- HSL
- hsl(120, 25%, 65%)
- OKLCH
- oklch(0.751 0.08 145)
- CMYK
- cmyk(24%, 0%, 24%, 26%)
--color-dark-sea-greenbg-[#8FBC8F]Accessibility
Score: 48/100On White (#FFF)
2.15:1
On Black (#000)
9.76:1
On Light Gray (#F5F5F5)
1.97:1
Best text color on this background:
Design Applications
background-color: #8FBC8F
color: #8FBC8F
bg-[#8FBC8F] text-[#000000]
border-left: 4px solid #8FBC8F
Color Harmonies
Similar Colors
Color Meaning & Psychology
Green occupies the center of the visible spectrum where the eye is most sensitive, making it the easiest color to process — literally restful for the eye. Green's associations with nature, growth, and fresh produce are deeply biological, rooted in the evolutionary advantage of finding food. In finance, "going green" means profit. In design, green signals health, sustainability, and natural ingredients. Darker greens evoke prestige and reliability; lighter greens feel fresh and energetic; blue-greens feel sophisticated and trustworthy. Green is uniquely cross-cultural in positive associations, though it represents environmental risk in some financial contexts. Its lighter value makes it approachable and soft — suitable for backgrounds, secondary UI states, and contexts requiring the hue's character without full intensity.
Industry Usage
Common contexts and industries where Dark Sea Green is applied in professional design.
- Financial services and investment platforms
- Health, wellness, and organic food brands
- Environmental and sustainability organizations
- Pharmaceutical and medical products
- Agriculture and farming brands
- Eco-friendly consumer goods
- Real estate and property development
- Success and achievement badges in UI
Accessibility Considerations
Normal Text
Fails AA
4.5:1 minimum required
Large Text
Fails AA Large
3:1 minimum required
UI Components
Check contrast
3:1 for non-text UI
Dark Sea Green is a light color. Use black (#000000) text on top of it for maximum readability (9.76:1). Avoid white text on this background.
CSS & Code Examples
Background
background-color: #8FBC8F;Text
color: #8FBC8F;Border
border: 2px solid #8FBC8F;Box Shadow
box-shadow: 0 4px 20px #8FBC8F40;Gradient
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #8FBC8F, #c0efbf);Tailwind-style
--color-dark-sea-green: #8FBC8F;Tailwind CSS Utilities
Use arbitrary value syntax in Tailwind CSS to apply Dark Sea Green without a custom config.
Background
bg-[#8FBC8F]Text
text-[#8FBC8F]Border
border-[#8FBC8F]Ring
ring-[#8FBC8F]Fill
fill-[#8FBC8F]From (gradient)
from-[#8FBC8F]Via (gradient)
via-[#8FBC8F]To (gradient)
to-[#8FBC8F]Design Tokens
Ready-to-use Dark Sea Green design token in CSS custom properties, SCSS, Tailwind v3/v4, and JSON formats.
CSS Custom Properties
:root {
--color-dark-sea-green: #8FBC8F;
--color-dark-sea-green-rgb: 143, 188, 143;
--color-dark-sea-green-hsl: 120, 25%, 65%;
}SCSS Variables
$color-dark-sea-green: #8FBC8F; $color-dark-sea-green-rgb: 143, 188, 143; $color-dark-sea-green-hsl: 120, 25%, 65%;
Tailwind v3 Config
// tailwind.config.js
module.exports = {
theme: {
extend: {
colors: {
'dark-sea-green': '#8FBC8F',
},
},
},
};Tailwind v4 (@theme)
/* tailwind.css */
@theme {
--color-dark-sea-green: #8FBC8F;
}JSON Design Token (W3C format)
{
"dark-sea-green": {
"value": "#8FBC8F",
"type": "color",
"description": "Dark Sea Green — #8FBC8F"
}
}More green colors
View all →What Does Dark Sea Green Mean? Color Psychology & Cultural Symbolism
The green spectrum contains multitudes: jungle growth and financial gain, medical healing and environmental responsibility. Dark Sea Green at #8FBC8F navigates this complexity with a mid-tone quality that emphasizes health—the aspect of green psychology most useful in healthcare design.
- Green carries multiple Western associations: nature and the environment, financial success and prosperity (money in the US), health and wellness, and the "go" signal in traffic systems. Dark greens suggest wealth and tradition; bright greens signal vitality and environmental consciousness.
- In Chinese culture, green is associated with growth, harmony, and fertility. In Islam, green holds sacred significance as the color of paradise and the Prophet. In Japan, green (midori) represents youth, freshness, and eternal life.
- Dark Sea Green's mid-tone lightness (65%) shifts its psychological register: a balanced mid-tone that embodies growth, nature, health, and balance at its most direct.
- At 25% saturation, Dark Sea Green reads as muted—Olive and sage greens carry a sophisticated, muted warmth—earthy and organic, excellent for natural products, lifestyle brands, and design systems that prioritize refinement.
In a well-designed system, Dark Sea Green is the color that answers yes. Use it where affirmation matters.
How to Use Dark Sea Green in Design: Applications, Pairings & Best Practices
In design, Dark Sea Green does double duty: as a semantic color (success, go, positive) and an aesthetic one (natural, health-forward, balanced). Understanding which role it's playing in any given context determines how to use it effectively.
- UI components: success states, confirmation messages, positive trends—Dark Sea Green performs reliably in all these roles with its mid-tone tonal character.
- Brand & identity: success states, approval indicators, sustainability branding—contexts where Dark Sea Green's muted quality creates the right register.
- Typography: Dark Sea Green as text requires a dark background; its 65% lightness means it provides 2.1:1 contrast on white, not meeting WCAG AA.
- Dark Sea Green creates strong legibility with black text overlays (9.8:1 contrast ratio), making it a reliable background or surface color in design systems
- Proportional use: Dark Sea Green's muted quality means it scales well across proportions—from full-bleed backgrounds to single-pixel borders—making it an unusually versatile palette component.
In a well-designed system, Dark Sea Green is the color that answers yes. Use it where affirmation matters.
Dark Sea Green Accessibility: WCAG Contrast Ratios, Color Blindness & Inclusive Design
Dark Sea Green (#8FBC8F) achieves a 9.76:1 contrast ratio with black text, surpassing the WCAG 2.1 AAA threshold of 7:1. This exceptional contrast qualifies it for body text, UI components at any size, and all accessibility-sensitive interface contexts. Relative luminance: 43.8%.
- As text on white (#FFFFFF): 2.15:1 — Fail
- As text on black (#000000): 9.76:1 — AAA ✓
- Best text color on Dark Sea Green background: Black (#000000) at 9.76:1
- WCAG 2.1 luminance: 43.8% — above-median luminance—it reads as a light to mid-tone background, compatible with dark text while retaining color personality
- Dark Sea Green qualifies for all text sizes including small body copy (AAA).
For production use, test Dark Sea Green against your specific background colors rather than assuming #FFFFFF or #000000 performance translates. Surrounding colors alter perceived contrast.
Dark Sea Green in Industry: Branding, Design & Market Applications
Dark Sea Green's brand positioning falls squarely in the territory of growth, nature, health, and balance. Industry data supports its strongest performance in healthcare, finance, food & organic categories, where the muted saturation calibrates the message at a mid-tone, considered level.
- Healthcare & Wellness: Green's association with health, nature, and healing makes it the second-most-common color in healthcare branding (after blue). It signals vitality, recovery, and natural wellness without the clinical coldness of pure white or blue. (examples: CVS Health, Mayo Clinic, Kaiser Permanente) Works best in teal-green and sage variations for digital health products; more saturated greens suit fitness and sports medicine.
- Finance & Banking: In Western markets, the green-money association is deeply embedded. Financial institutions use dark, sophisticated greens to communicate growth, prosperity, and fiduciary reliability. It's equally effective for positive portfolio indicators and "go" confirmation states in trading UIs. (examples: JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Visa) Dark greens with gold accents signal premium financial services; bright greens in fintech apps signal growth metrics.
- Sustainability & Organic: Green is the categorical color of environmental consciousness. Sustainability brands, organic food labels, and clean-energy companies use it as an immediate, unambiguous signal of ecological values and natural origin. (examples: Pela Case, Grove Collaborative, Allbirds) The challenge is differentiation—nearly every sustainability brand uses green, so typography, illustration style, and specific tone matter more.
- Brand positioning: Dark Sea Green is best suited for brands projecting health, sustainability, growth. Categories outside this positioning—warning or danger contexts (except for safety signs)—tend to see weaker results.
- Adjacent applications: Beyond primary industries, Dark Sea Green works effectively in success states, approval indicators, sustainability branding—contexts where nature serves a secondary but reinforcing role.
For marketers and brand strategists, Dark Sea Green is a commitment to growth, nature, health, and balance. Match it with industries that make that promise and it will pay dividends consistently.
Accessibility & Design Guides
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is the hex code for Dark Sea Green? ▾
- The hex code for Dark Sea Green is #8FBC8F. Its RGB values are rgb(143, 188, 143) and its HSL values are hsl(120, 25%, 65%).
- What does Dark Sea Green mean in design? ▾
- Green occupies the center of the visible spectrum where the eye is most sensitive, making it the easiest color to process — literally restful for the eye. Green's associations with nature, growth, and fresh produce are deeply biological, rooted in the evolutionary advantage of finding food. In finance, "going green" means profit. In design, green signals health, sustainability, and natural ingredients. Darker greens evoke prestige and reliability; lighter greens feel fresh and energetic; blue-greens feel sophisticated and trustworthy. Green is uniquely cross-cultural in positive associations, though it represents environmental risk in some financial contexts. Its lighter value makes it approachable and soft — suitable for backgrounds, secondary UI states, and contexts requiring the hue's character without full intensity.
- Is Dark Sea Green WCAG accessible? ▾
- Dark Sea Green (#8FBC8F) does not pass WCAG AA on white (2.15:1 ratio). Use it on dark backgrounds where it achieves 9.76:1. Its overall accessibility score is 48/100.
- What colors go well with Dark Sea Green? ▾
- Dark Sea Green pairs well with its complementary color Purple (#800080). Analogous colors like Chartreuse and Harlequin also work harmoniously. Check the Color Harmonies section above for the full palette.
- What is Dark Sea Green used for? ▾
- Dark Sea Green is commonly used for: Financial services and investment platforms; Health, wellness, and organic food brands; Environmental and sustainability organizations; Pharmaceutical and medical products; Agriculture and farming brands.
- What are the CSS and Tailwind values for Dark Sea Green? ▾
- In CSS, use `color: #8FBC8F` or `background-color: #8FBC8F`. The CSS custom property is `--color-dark-sea-green: #8FBC8F`. In Tailwind CSS, use the arbitrary value class `bg-[#8FBC8F]` for backgrounds or `text-[#8FBC8F]` for text.